Baptist pastor failed to report child abuse at Mesquite church where men face rape charges, police say

By Tom Steele
Dallas News
April 3, 2018

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/04/03/pastor-mesquite-baptist-church-men-face-rape-chargesdidnt-report-child-abuse-police-say

Robert Arnold Ross

Steven Aaron Winn

Larry Allen Winn

The pastor of a conservative Mesquite Baptist church where a father and son have been charged with sexually assaulting girls has been arrested after police say he didn't report the abuse.

Robert Arnold Ross, 70, pastor of Open Door Baptist Church, was booked into the Mesquite jail Tuesday morning on one count of knowingly failing to make a required child abuse report. His bail was set at $2,500.

In recent weeks, 33-year-old Steven Aaron Winn and 65-year-old Larry Allen Winn were arrested on charges of sexually assaulting children.

The younger Winn, a volunteer assistant youth pastor at the church on South Belt Line Road, was taken into custody Feb. 22. Mesquite police had learned several days earlier about allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a female student at the church's Christian academy for more than a y

ear, starting when the girl was 15.

Police say Ross learned about the abuse on Feb. 1 — more than two weeks before police learned of the accusation — and did not notify authorities.

Steven Winn faces three counts of sexual assault of a child in Dallas County and three counts of sexual assault of a child in Kaufman County and remains in the Dallas County jail, with bail set at $375,000.

The elder Winn, who ran the church's bus ministry, was arrested March 1. Police said a church member reported that he had raped her three years ago, when she was 16.